Slug-trap



Lil' Sept. 6, 1955 B. s. SNOW 2,717,130

7 SLUG-TRAP Filed Aug. 29, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l may II I" II I .JJ 6 V JZ f\.

. INVENTOR.

- Barth rz \5 Snow Sept. 6, 1955 B. s. SNOW 2,717,180

SLUG-TRAP Filed Aug. 29, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR. Bar 20 2: 5 $710 w ni d St te Pfl10,7"

2,711,139 g 1 SLUG-TR" "Ap' Barton S. Show, Chicago, to Snow Construction Company, Inc'., a corporation'of Illinois Application August 29, 1950, seanjrro. 182,934 6 cl ms, e11; slot-48 This invention relates to a device "for use in a pipe line for transportinggranular material such-as sand, by gas Pressure. .1... .r: .7

In many places, such as railway locomotive yards, and the like, dry sand or other granular material can be transported most conveniently in pipe lines by air pressure available at 60 to 100 pounds per square inch. However, it has been found that the material while traveling through the pipe line tends to gather into masses or slugs which offer more resistance to travel, and the abrasion reduces the life of the pipe.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide at intervals in the pipe line chambers or traps which will break up the traveling compacted masses of material and permit it to resume its travel in free and loose condition. The devices may be conveniently located along a substantially great length of pipe, or at an elbow. in the pipe line.

A further object of the invention is to provide a chamber in which the outlet port is arranged so that the chamber will empty readily and will not seal otf the pipe line.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mixing chamber where the incoming granular material will impinge upon and churn up material that already has entered the chamber, rather than providing a sand blasting effect on the walls of the chamber itself.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view, partly in section, showing a system embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is an elevational view, partly in section, of one form of slug-trap; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of another form of slugtrap; and Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view, taken as illustrated by line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

In the particular embodiment shown, dry sand is stored in an elevated storage vessel 5 from which the sand may be transported when needed, through a pipe line 6, to a dispensing vessel 7 located at a distance from the storage vessel. From the dispensing vessel 7 a hose 8 may be used to fill the sand boxes of railway locomotives by gravitational flow of the sand through the hose to the locomotive sand box. Details of the construction of the dispensing vessel 7 and its operating mechanism are disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 125,908, filed November 7, 1949.

The sand used in railway locomotives is specially dried, and is easily handled with air pressure available about railroad yards. Sand which contains under four pounds of moisture per cubic foot of sand may be easily handled and transported, and this amount of moisture will not freeze in cold climates. Any suitable method may be used to introduce the sand and compressed air to the pipe line. In Fig. 1, a small air line 9 communicates with the pipe line 6 just below the storage tank 5 to provide an air jet to pick up sand flowing by gravity through down spout 10, connected with the storage vessel 5. The pipe line may often be several hundred feet long, which is conducive to the formation of slugs of sand in the pipe line during its movement from storage to its destination. A

2,717,180 I, Patented Sept. 6, 1955 slugs 'vvitliin' the line. Where angular turns are made in the pipeline, a slug-trap, generally designated 12, maybe used in themanner illustrated in Fig. 1.

"The slug-trap generally designated 12 comprises a reducing T-fitting 13' having an inlet port 14 in one of its aligned openings adapted tolbe'connectedwith one end ofjthe pipeline 6. The other aligned opening :IS Qis closed or blanked off by a plugged flange 16. In aspe cific' embodiment illustrated, the pipe line 6 is a 3" line,

and the'blanked opening of the T is a 7" opening. The pipeline 6 connected with the outlet 18 is also. a 31' line.

Sandentering'theinlet 14 is directed towardthe blanked opening '15 'where'it piles up to form a" cushion against which other incoming material impinges. Slugs of material are thus broken up and are diffused in the air stream in chamber 17 before entering the outlet 18. Each opening to the T is tightly sealed in suitable manner with airtight gaskets 19 to prevent loss of air pressure within the chamber 17 formed by the T.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 4, an enlarged chamber 20 is formed of a section of pipe much larger than the pipe line 6 with which it is connected. Flanges 29 are secured to the section of pipe forming chamber 20, and gaskets 30 are provided to seal the chamber with end closure plates 21 and 25. One end closure plate 21 is provided with a nipple 22 internally threaded to reof the same size as the pipe line, extends into the cham- I ber a short distance forming the inlet 23. Another end v closure plate 25 is likewise provided with a nipple 26 internally threaded to receive the outgoing pipe line 6. A section of pipe 27 is threaded into the nipple 26, to extend into the chamber quite a distance from the plate 25, yet short of the other end plate 21. The open end of pipe 27 is cut at an angle, as illustrated, to provide the outlet opening 28 from the chamber. The inlet 23 is positioned above the outlet 28, and thus may discharge sand into the chamber to impinge upon other material banked up against the end plate 25, breaking up any slugs of material before they enter the outlet 28. The extension pipe 27 is sufiiciently long to place the outlet 28 beyond 7 any material piled up against end plate 25 so that the outlet will remain open. A slug-trap such as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 is most conveniently used when the direction of the pipe line is not materially changed, and that of Fig. 2 is suitable for use where direction of flow is changed whether in a vertical, horizontal .or other plane.

With the use of slug-traps, as described above, granular material may be transported by air pressure a longer distance through a pipe line, and also material may be handled which contains a greater amount of moisture than could be handled without using the present invention.

said inlet port and extending across the path of said material, and an outlet port for connection to the other side of the pipe line, said ports being offset from each other with the outlet port being intermediate said inlet port and the wall, so that masses of sand entering 3. 7 through the inlet port travel under force of gas pressure through the chamber past said outlet port and impinge upon sand stacked up against the wall and bottom of a d, mber t ob ea t p s u s of sand and toentrain t e ul r and n. said g ef r nte i ai Ou e Por 2. A slug-trap. as set forth in elaim 1, wherein, the outlet port is. in a plane, below the inlet port,

3. A, slugetrap, as set forth in claim, 1, wherein the et port i pr vided wit an extensi n .op ng t th chamber at apqint spaced from the conneetion with the pipe line. a

4. A slug-trap as set forth in claim 1, wherein the body is formed of a, T-fitting with the inlet and outlet;

P r g, angularly dispo 5. A slug-trap as set forth in claim 1 wherein, said body is a straight section of pipe ofi larger diameter than he P p e n ha a. h ad. memb r at eitherendv here-1 open end of the inlet pipe being intermediate the open end of the outlet pipe arid said other head member.

6. A slug-trap as set forth in claim 1 wherein the body is a T-fitting with one of its aligned openings blanked off, the other aligned opening forming the inlet port, masses of sand entering through the inlet port impinging on sand stacked upvag ainst the blanked opening and the bottom of the fitting Re r nc s. i the n fih pate t UNITE]; srr 'rEsl. BA'EENTS Germany Aug. 24; 19:16 

